This invention relates to electronic commerce on the Internet, and applied market research both on and off-line.
The Internet has become a vehicle for buying products of all types. When shopping on the Internet, a buyer may search a database for products that have been catalogued by a particular style name. For example, if shopping for furniture, a shopper can ask for products that are classified as “Contemporary.” Similarly in clothing, a consumer may search by specifying multiple, objective criteria such as color and price range (e.g., blue shirt under $20). The shopper would receive results listing shirts that matched the color and price specifications. The results could be very numerous and the shirts could be of very different styles, many of which may not appeal to the customer. The shirts could have nothing in common with each other, other than that they are blue and under $20. Searching for furniture products is generally done based on style name, e.g., “Traditional”, “Contemporary”, “Country”, and so forth.